Posted on

Saturday, 15th October

This is MY journey and nobody else’s

The road to health, fitness and wellness is just that, a journey. The idea that you can change your diet and lifestyle around in six weeks is a idea built in the media’s mind to capture you into the dream.

Of course, real life isn’t anything like the dream and so we must take it one step at a time.

Be patient

There is a tendency to want results to come instantly, especially if you find the diet and exercise hard going and not particularly enjoyable. I often think, there is no destiny to arrive to where body image is concerned. Let go of that young girl running across the beach in a string bikini up her arse lol! Concentrate on your inner feelings instead. The journey is one to happiness and contentment. Are you happy counting the calories and the scales? Are you pinching your skin everyday wondering if you will lose those two stones in the next two days? Take an inventory every day of your feelings.

Every day when you get up, say one positive thing about your body, character or training regime.

A great mantra is, ‘I am getting stronger in my body every day’ Or ‘I am a little bit stronger today than I was yesterday’.

Here is where the real transformation takes place. Being comfortable in your own skin is priceless. Being finally able to trust yourself to see it through and getting out of your own way!

Getting out of your own way

It’s funny how many of us have a set gauge of how well we are mean’t to do in life. I have this all the time. I will do really well for a while and then I get in my own way. ‘Who am I to do this? I think I should go back to the old me now. Then just quit out of the blue.

When you start having these negative feelings, the best way I have found is to try and work straight through them. Once you start honouring these feelings, it’s game over. Train harder and keep telling your little old self, the ego, that tries to pull you down all the time, this is MY mountain and I am going to climb it to the top!!

Have bucketloads of compassion

With yourself that is. With yourself first. Whenever you have a big blow out on the biscuits or crisps, write down all of the reasons why that happened. Are you stressed? Do you need to find a way of processing some old or new emotions? Are you bored? Finding new ways of relaxing and hobbies to keep you busy is crucial in the nights, especially at the beginning of your food journey. Maybe it’s as simple as not having the foods in the house in the first place. If it’s there, you WILL eat it, guaranteed.

Stop caring what others think

This is a real toughie. When friends and family stop or don’t even encourage and support your new lifestyle it’s a real challenge. Most of us want to please and be liked and so it can really derail you.

This of course has more to do with them than you. Often human nature doesn’t like change as it refects things about themselves that they would possible like to change but feel like they can’t. In other words, you changing, makes them feel awkward. We can all relate to that on some level. It’s a good idea to try and get your friends or family on board with you, so you all help and support each other. This way, your social time will end up in the gym or local park, and not in the pubs and cake shops.

Stopping drinking at parties or eating all the cakes during lunch with girlfriends is a real challenge for instance. You may worry that you look boring, some friends may even call you that, and you may even be scared you will lose friends over it.

It all boils down to your commitment and reasons why you are doing it. Having a very strong list of positives of why you are doing it is very beneficial. You have to learn how to stand your ground here. From experience, saying you are not eating crap or drinking alcohol for health reasons, is usually sufficient in stopping the pleas and begging. Also, if your family and friends are really becoming jealous or resentful, try and find some other people who are more supportive of your goals to train with, for instance.

You don’t have to let it get you down, just do make sure you protect your dreams like a little baby. You wouldn’t hand your precious newborn baby to just anyone, and you shouldn’t hand over your dreams of a new life and goals over to just anyone either, for them to comment and make judgements over. It takes a lot of energy and commitment to make even small changes for a new life, career or new body. Be kind to yourself and just take small steps in the right direction every day, even if it means drinking that water!!

Have a nice weekend,

Nicola.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 12th October

Putting short term discomfort before long term pleasure, satisfaction and fulfilment is essential to make your results long lasting and more real. That’s not pleasant reading for most, but it’s true if you want real results, and you want to create strong foundations with your health.

Fitting in your first week of exercise is relatively easy, classed as a “honeymoon period” and you are seemingly on your way.

Then the next week becomes more difficult, things “crop up” and it sometimes becomes easier not to make it. Your dreams seem to be disappearing before you even started properly.

You need to immediately create another schedule so your training fits in with your life. If you don’t do this, then “life” will always overtake your training and you will never get your 3 make a difference sessions a week in. This may be uncomfortable and tough to do, but you being fitter and healthier means ultimately you will be able to contribute far more to those immediately around you in all areas of your and their lives.

Same with your food, making those short term pleasure decisions of consuming too much sugary foods and drinks will destroy all the hard work you do in the gym.

Make sure you go to the supermarket with a pre written list full of healthy choices. If you go in with an open mind, then its very likely that anything will go into that trolley. You have to be disciplined with what you put into your shopping trolley because once it ends up in the house, it’s 100% certain you and your family will eat it at some stage.

To get where you want to do, the discipline is eating healthy and making your sessions is of paramount importance. It’s not always easy, especially to start with, but the long term value of doing this is a massive investment in your health and will pay big dividends for years to come.

Twitt
Posted on

Monday, 10th October

Raising your standards and going all the way is a must when you start our programme. The habits we recommend will literally transform your life in a very positive way.

If we don’t take charge of our lives, sometimes our lives take charge of us in a negative way, so we must make the most of our opportunities while we have them right now.

If we don’t take action soon then time drifts away from us, then we leave it another week, another month, another year, and before we know it, that time is gone and our great opportunities gone with it.

Actions always have consequences. Do good things for people and our bodies, and good things are likely to happen for you in all ways.

Personal accountability is vital. Keep the promises you made to yourself. Most of us forget this, not keeping to what we promised. We have all the information to us every day, yet many of us try a roundabout way of doing this.

It’s easy to think we can out-train a bad diet, many of us have tried to cheat the system of health at one time or another. When we buckle down to the fact that healthy food consumed regularly and pretty much most of the time actually works, then our whole life changes.

We all have weaknesses, and this is why we discuss them every day on here. It’s only by discussing what we do wrong, that we get the opportunity to do things the right way.

Your hopes, dreams and desires rely totally on you being healthy, energetic and positive, and practising the daily rituals to achieve this are absolutely vital.

Leave yourself no other option but doing your best every day, moving closer to your ultimate goals every day, and staying on a positive path no matter what life throws at you and tries to throw you off course.

Realise it’s all within you, all of you have to do is dig deep every day and keep making it happen!

Twitt
Posted on

Friday, 7th October

Thanks for a great morning. Today emphasised what we do more than any other morning. Every single one of you is a different case, and although we send out programmes for you and you regularly get a new one, each of you needs a little twist on each programme.

If you have a knee replacement, you need taken care of, but you also need to be taken to a whole new level too. You want constant progressions no matter what, not a sheet of exercises which you often will get from a hospital that offer no progressions or support. You need tried and tested exercises to strengthen your knee, and ones to become a much better athlete too.

If you have had a tough time in any area of your life, you need bucking up, pushing and lifting up at times, we need to be there at all times to do that. Many of you struggle at the gym more in the mind than in your bodies, we are very aware of that, and we don’t treat everyone as if they are perfect, we all need a leg up regularly.

If you are reaching to another level or highest level of sport, you need to know what works, what you need to do to get there and sometimes you need to be really pushed through the toughest of times, to get your performance up to the highest level, exactly where you need to be. Train harder than anyone else, and the way you play the game will transformational.

If you are on blood pressure medication, you need to exercise well and eat right for you to improve your health, we are here to constantly push you through and remind you of that.

If you have just had a baby, many of you have, you need us to guide you through those first difficult few weeks and months after giving birth. You need to keep doing the safe and right thing to get you back to full recovery.

We are above all a full teaching and coaching 100% of the time gym, this is highly important to us and we know it is to you, and it’s the only way you’re going to continue to get outstanding results. Thanks for coming.

Twitt
Posted on

Wednesday, 5th October

We all see the world differently. We all have our version of events and we all have different expectations out of life.

If we are unhappy with those views or the world as we see it, it’s pretty hard to change the world, but we can definitely change the way we see OUR world if WE change.

If our view of being healthy and fit is a short term and shallow approach of going on the latest fad diet, and going on some kamikaze exercise programme for a week or so, and hoping for the best, then there’s nothing anyone can do until you change your approach to getting healthy, and start thinking long term, however unfashionable it may be to you. YOU need to change first.

As you know, we have many, many members start with knee replacements, back surgery and after having hip replacements. After that trauma, you can see the world through two points of view.

You can either accept you won’t be able to walk properly or exercise again, or you can go through proper rehab and actively get stronger, and fight for your mobility again.

Those two versions of how the world looks are completely different. If you haven’t much mobility, then life becomes a smaller place and you are unlikely to enjoy the unbelievable joys that full mobility will bring into your life again.

If you have full or nearly full mobility back, then the world becomes huge again for you to sample, and create fresh new experiences in.

Most of us are taught as kids not to dream too big, not to do anything that rattles any cages, never do something that will cause “people to talk”, we are taught to fit into a tight criteria that usually keeps other people happy.

Being independent, following your own true path, reviving the ambitions you thought were dead and buried years ago, clearing the negative influences out of your life, will make YOU see the world differently and very likely lead to a whole new set of outcomes in your life that will be much more fulfilling and satisfying. This is the best way to change your world.

Twitt